UFC 109's Melvin Guillard says he's a new fighter following Team Jackson affiliation

http://mmajunkie.comFollowing a hard-fought decision victory over Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Ronys Torres at Saturday’s “UFC 109: Relentless” event, Melvin Guillard said he now considers himself a fighter with a 1-0 career record.

So why would the 26-year-old turn his back on the past eight years and 33 other career bouts?

It’s simple, Guillard. He’s a different fighter now that he’s hooked up with trainer Greg Jackson. Even UFC president Dana White sees a drastically different future for the promising lightweight.

Guillard, who’s been considered one of the UFC’s most promising fighters since appearing on “The Ultimate Fighter 2,” has all the raw skills to be one of the lightweight division’s best. But he often struggled with submission defense, in-cage decision-making and sometimes his opponents’ head games. If you could beat him mentally – something fighters such as Nate Diaz, Joe Stevenson and Rich Clementi did – Guillard could often be beaten in the cage, as well.

But on Saturday during Spike TV’s “UFC Prelims” pay-per-view teaser, Guillard looked perhaps his best ever. He striking – always powerful – was crisper. His takedown defense was solid. And never had he been able to get back to his feet so easily. Every aspect of his game improved.

Between rounds, Jackson, who runs the highly respected Jackson’s Submission Fighting training camp in Albuquerque, N.M., calmly laid out game plans for Guillard. More importantly, Jackson told him what was working and offered positive reinforcement.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m a 1-0 fighter,” Guillard said after the fight. “The fights before this I relied on my talent, but now I have a great coach and a great team.”

Guillard posted a solid 22-8-2 record (5-4 in the UFC) prior to UFC 109 and suffered a loss to Diaz in his previous outing. Like all but one of his other career losses, it, too, came via submission – which have proven to be Guillard’s Achilles’ heel.

“I think with Coach Greg, it’s the way he comes off in the mental part of the game,” Guillard said. “He’s a sentimental-type guy. He has that approach like, ‘We’re going to do this. This is the gameplan.’ Just the way that he talks to you and the way he gives you that respect – not only as a fighter, but as a person and a man – it’s phenomenal.

“I’m not taking anything from Coach Saul (Soliz). When I was with Coach Saul in Houston, I had a good run. Training was good. I was able to keep afloat in the UFC. But Coach Jackson just takes it to a whole new level.”

With four victories in his past five fights, a quickly improving overall game, and Saturday’s demonstration that he can hang with a submission specialist for a full 15-minute fight, Guillard is even making a believer out of his UFC boss.

“Melvin Guillard has always been one of those kids that isn’t living up to his potential,” White said. “That kid is so athletic, so explosive, great on the ground, great wrestling, great standup, has knockout power.

“(On) … ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ season two, his first fight was with (Josh) Burkman. They fight that fight, Burkman wins, submits him, but breaks his hand in the fight. So at that time, the way that we did the show, those guys were kicked out. They go to another house, and they could do whatever they wanted to. These guys are going out at night. [Expletive] Melvin Guillard has jewelry on and everything else and telling all the ladies he’s a TV star and [expletive].”

White said it became Guillard’s M.O. early in his UFC career.

“Melvin’s been doing that stuff since Day One,” White said. “If this kid would buckle down, take this thing seriously – he’s an incredible athlete. So hopefully now down there with Greg Jackson and his crew, that’s the guy Melvin Guillard is going to become.

“Let me tell you, he fought a tough kid tonight. That was a war. If this other fight (Chael Sonnen vs. Nate Marquardt) wasn’t that great, that could have been up for the ‘Fight of the Night’ (award) too.”

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